As of October 2026, a first-year investment banking analyst in New York earns a base salary of $110,000 at the large banks and $120,000 at Evercore. Base pay steps up to $125,000 in the second year and $135,000 in the third at JPMorgan and Moelis. Year-end bonuses averaged about $67,000 for first-years and $88,000 for second-years in self-reported 2025 data. One 2026 industry report puts total analyst pay at $165,000 to $225,000. Every figure below has its source and date next to it.

Who wrote this. We make Soreno, an AI interviewer for banking interviews. We did not run our own survey. Base salaries come from bank pay scales reported in the press and from 2025 US Department of Labor salary filings. Bonuses come from published compensation reports. Where sources disagree, both are shown.

Base salary by analyst year

The large banks have paid the same base scale since the 2021 and 2022 raises, and their 2025 salary filings still match it.

Year	Base salary	Source
Analyst 1	$110,000	Goldman Sachs (CNBC, Aug 2, 2021), JPMorgan (Banking Dive, Jan 19, 2022)
Analyst 2	$125,000	Goldman Sachs (CNBC, Aug 2, 2021), JPMorgan (Banking Dive, Jan 19, 2022)
Analyst 3	$135,000	JPMorgan (Banking Dive, Jan 19, 2022)

Not every analyst stays for a third year. Mergers & Inquisitions puts the analyst stage at two to three years before promotion to associate.

Base salary by bank, from 2025 filings

US employers that sponsor H-1B visas must file the salary they will pay for each job with the Department of Labor, and the filings are public. These are the New York investment banking analyst filings for 2025 (DOL data, searchable at h1bdata.info, read October 15, 2026):

Citi, JPMorgan and Jefferies: $110,000 and $125,000 for "Investment Banking Analyst"
UBS and RBC: $110,000
Goldman Sachs: $110,000 and $125,000 for "Analyst, Banker" (filings)
Moelis: $110,000, $125,000 and $135,000 for "Analyst" (filings)
Evercore: $120,000 for "Analyst" and "Senior Analyst" (filings)
Lazard: $125,000
Several smaller firms (among them Clear Street, Senahill Partners and Cathay Securities): $85,301 to $100,000

The filings name the job, not the class year, and show base salary only. The three steps they show match the year-by-year scale above.

Pay at every level, bank by bank, from the same filings: Goldman Sachs salary, JPMorgan salary and Morgan Stanley salary. For pay after a move to private equity, see private equity salary.

Year-end bonus by year and bank type

Bonuses vary far more than base pay. Two published sources, measured differently:

eFinancialCareers, August 21, 2025 (Analyst bonuses in 2025), from bonuses analysts reported on Wall Street Oasis:

Group	Bonus
First-year analysts	about $67,000
Second-year analysts	about $88,000
Middle-market banks	about $65,000
Bulge-bracket banks	about $75,000
Boutiques	about $80,000

The article notes these run high because top performers were the most likely to share their numbers. Top-bucket analysts reported bonuses about 30% higher than mid-bucket analysts.

Mergers & Inquisitions, 2026 Investment Banker Salary and Bonus Report (early 2026, covers year-end 2025), about 200 data points, 25th to 75th percentile at large banks in New York:

Analyst total pay (base plus bonus): $165,000 to $225,000
Top-ranked first-years at Lazard, Evercore and Moelis: about $180,000 to $195,000 in total
Top-ranked second-years at elite boutiques: around $250,000 in total
Third-year analysts: about $200,000 to $270,000 in total

Bonuses for the 2026 year are paid after year-end, so they are not in any source yet.

How analyst pay is structured

Base salary. Paid through the year and set by class year, as the scales above show.
Year-end bonus. Depends on your ranking (top, middle or bottom bucket), your group and the bank's year. Analyst bonuses are paid in cash, not stock (Mergers & Inquisitions, 2026).
Stub bonus. Most analysts start mid-year (Mergers & Inquisitions, 2026), so the first bonus covers only the months worked so far and is smaller than a full-year bonus.
Signing bonus. A one-time payment when you join. Mergers & Inquisitions describes it as usually a small share of base. Evercore paid first-years a $15,000 starting bonus when it raised base pay to $120,000 (eFinancialCareers, Aug 11, 2021).
Hours. The pay comes with long weeks: JPMorgan began capping junior bankers at 80 hours in most weeks in 2024, with live deals exempt (Fortune, Sept 12, 2024).

Pay after the analyst years

How much investment bankers make at each level, from the same sources:

Level	Base salary	Total pay
Associate	$175,000 to $225,000	$285,000 to $500,000
Vice president	$250,000 to $300,000	$525,000 to $800,000
Managing director	$400,000 to $600,000	$1 million to $2 million+

Ranges are from Mergers & Inquisitions (2026). The associate base matches 2025 filings: $185,000 at Evercore and $175,000 to $225,000 at Moelis. For the whole industry, the New York State Comptroller put the average 2025 bonus for securities employees in New York City at $246,900, a record (AP via WTOP, Mar 26, 2026). That average covers every role, not just bankers.

Getting the offer

The pay starts with passing the interviews: fit questions, then accounting, valuation, M&A and LBO technicals. Work through our investment banking interview questions, each with an example answer, and the technical questions guide. Then practice them out loud, since a memorized answer often falls apart under a follow-up.

Sources

CNBC, "Goldman Sachs joins Wall Street rivals in boosting junior banker salaries," August 2, 2021
Banking Dive, on JPMorgan's junior banker raises (citing Bloomberg), January 18, 2022, updated January 19
US Department of Labor H-1B LCA disclosure data, 2025 filings, via h1bdata.info, read October 15, 2026
eFinancialCareers, "Analyst bonuses in 2025 are not too bad, actually," August 21, 2025
Mergers & Inquisitions, "2026 Investment Banker Salary and Bonus Report," early 2026
eFinancialCareers, Wall Street salaries and Evercore's raise, August 11, 2021
Fortune, on JPMorgan's 80-hour cap for junior bankers, September 12, 2024
Associated Press via WTOP, on the New York State Comptroller's 2025 bonus estimate, March 26, 2026

Frequently asked questions

How much does a first-year investment banking analyst make?

A $110,000 base at the large banks and $120,000 at Evercore (pay reports from 2021 and 2022, matched by 2025 filings), plus a bonus. Self-reported 2025 data put the average first-year bonus at about $67,000 (eFinancialCareers, Aug 2025). The first bonus is often a smaller stub because analysts start mid-year.

How much do investment bankers make?

It depends on the level. Analysts earn about $165,000 to $225,000 in total, associates $285,000 to $500,000, vice presidents $525,000 to $800,000 and managing directors $1 million to $2 million or more (Mergers & Inquisitions, 2026).

Do elite boutiques pay analysts more?

Sometimes. Evercore's base is $120,000 against $110,000 at the large banks, and boutique bonuses averaged about $80,000 against about $75,000 at bulge-bracket banks in self-reported 2025 data. Moelis's lowest 2025 analyst filing is $110,000, the same as the large banks.

Is there a signing bonus?

Usually, and it is paid once when you join. Mergers & Inquisitions says it is typically a small share of base. Evercore paid $15,000 when it raised first-year pay in 2021.

Is pay the same outside New York?

No. The figures here are for New York. Mergers & Inquisitions estimates London pay at 15 to 30% below New York.

Investment Banking Analyst Salary 2026: Base and Bonus by Year and Bank